Jeremiah 2:11

11 Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit.

Jeremiah 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:11

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?
&c.] Though they are not by nature gods which they worship, only nominal and fictitious deities, yet they did not change them for others; but when they once embraced the worship of them, continued therein; so did the Chittim, the inhabitants of the isles, who though they traded to distant countries, from place to place; and so the Kedarenes, who dwelt in tents, and fed cattle, and moved from one desert to another, and from one pasture to another, as Jarchi observes; yet they carried their gods with them, and did not exchange them for new ones where they came. The Jewish writers say F2, that the Kedarenes worshipped water, and the Chittim fire; and though they knew that water would quench fire, yet the latter would not change their gods. Kimchi and Abendana relate it just the reverse, and say the Kedarenes worshipped fire, and the Chittim water, which is most likely; and so it is said elsewhere F3. But my people have changed their glory;
the true God, who is glorious in himself, and whom they should have glorified, and have counted it their highest honour and glory that they knew him, and were the worshippers of him; yet they changed him, their glory, into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, ( Psalms 106:20 ) , wherefore it is justly added, for that which doth not profit;
meaning Baal, and such like idols; see the note on ( Jeremiah 2:8 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F2 T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 5. 2.
F3 Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 60. 3.

Jeremiah 2:11 In-Context

9 For this reason, I will again put forward my cause against you, says the Lord, even against you and against your children's children.
10 For go over to the sea-lands of Kittim and see; send to Kedar and give deep thought to it; and see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has any nation ever made a change in their gods, though they are no gods? but my people have given up their glory in exchange for what is of no profit.
12 Be full of wonder, O heavens, at this; be overcome with fear, be completely waste, says the Lord.
13 For my people have done two evils; they have given up me, the fountain of living waters, and have made for themselves water-holes, cut out from the rock, broken water-holes, of no use for storing water.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.